And have yourself a merry little solstice:

2009/12/19: Yahoo:AFP: Climate scientists underwhelmed by Copenhagen AccordTop climate scientists said Saturday that the eleventh-hour political deal hammered out at UN talks in Copenhagen falls perilously short of what is needed to stave off catastrophic global warming. What many had hoped would be a planet-saving treaty locking major economies into strong commitments to shrink their carbon footprints came out as a three-page political accord with key numbers yet to be filled in.

2009/12/18: COP15: Chávez felt excludedVenezuela’s President Hugo Chávez criticized the UN climate conference for “a real lack of transparency”, speaking on behalf of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela took the floor at the plenary, Friday afternoon, and accused US President Barack Obama of behaving like an emperor “who comes in during the middle of the night — and cooks up a document that we will not accept, we will never accept”. Chávez underlined that “all countries are equal”. He stressed that he would not accept that some countries prepared a text for a climate deal and just “slipped [it] under the door” to be signed by the others. He said he had heard of the existence of such a text, but “we don’t know the paper” and then continued by accusing the conference of “a real lack of transparency”.

2009/12/17: BBC: Fight to control climate fundThe deadlock over who should cut carbon emissions and by how much may be dominating the headlines here in Copenhagen but behind the scenes an equally big issue is being thrashed out. It’s a fight for control of the massive new fund that will challenge our changing climate. So far there has been no agreement regarding how this money should be managed and where it should be channelled as negotiating bodies from the developed and developing worlds hold fast to their polarised positions.

2009/12/18: TDC: One planet, different universesAll eyes in Copenhagen were on China and President Barack Obama Friday night, but no event captured the discord, mistrust and distance separating all sides at these climate talks than a pair of press conferences held simultaneously at the Bella Center earlier in the afternoon. In the main room, refusing to cede the stage to other dignitaries, Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Juan Evo Morales railed against the developed world’s inability to accept responsibility for previous emissions obligations and the role it has played in warming the atmosphere. (link to UN video) Across the hall, five Republican members of the U.S. House denounced the notion that humans could change the climate and expressed relief at the prospect of failure here.

2009/12/19: EarthTimes: Copenhagen unveils the new world order – the G2Copenhagen – One hundred and twenty people are invited to a meeting. Thirty of them sit down and talk. Just two of them take the key decision. Welcome to the new world order, where the United States and China conduct the choir, a clutch of old and rising powers sing the key solos, and the rest of the world joins in the chorus.

2009/12/19: CCurrents: Why Copenhagen FailedTo anybody interested in the future of the earth’s climate, the conclusion of the Copenhagen conference represents either colossal disappointment or profound rage. The financial pledges– if honored– that rich nations made to poor nations will do nothing to combat global warming. The few climate related agreements that were made were of zero substance, especially when compared to what the situation demanded.

2009/12/18: BBerg: Global Warming Treaty Likely to Be Delayed Past 2010United Nations climate envoys may drop a plan to complete a binding global-warming agreement by the end of 2010, as two weeks of talks in Copenhagen overran their deadline with no framework to forge a treaty. A draft accord prepared in the Danish capital omitted a requirement that nations adopt “one or more legal instruments” to fight global warming during a UN meeting planned in Mexico City in November. The 2010 limit was in an earlier draft today. “The big obstacle is the gap between developed and developing countries; We’re playing ping-pong,” Haimoude Ould Ahmed, a senator from Mauritania, said in an interview in Copenhagen.

2009/12/17: DerSpiegel: Stalling in Copenhagen — Chimerica Against the WorldChina and the United States are playing a decisive role in Copenhagen. Both major powers are accusing each other of doing too little to stop the climate disaster. Europeans and developing nations are demanding the two agree to greater reductions in CO2 emissions. Will ‘Chimerica’ derail a real deal in Copenhagen?

2009/12/17: EurActiv: At the forefront of climate action, regions ask for clear signalsRegions and local government have asked for the “right signals” from world leaders in Copenhagen so that they can kick-start the policies and investments needed to make the switch to a low-carbon economy. Speaking to EurActiv on the margins of the climate summit taking place in the Danish capital, Luc Van Brande, president of the Committee of the Regions, an EU consultative body, said regions needed a clear legal framework but also the financial tools to act. His statement was echoed by Michele Sabban, president of the Assembly of European Regions. “It is up to the regions and the local authorities to implement the commitments taken. For that to happen, a multi-level partnership is needed,” she said.

2009/12/17: EurActiv: Poor nations push for ‘new world order’ in CopenhagenAn attempt by developing and emerging countries to create “a new world order” in which Western industrialised nations are no longer dominant is threatening to scupper an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen, warned EU delegates. EurActiv reports from the Danish capital. As more than 130 world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for the final two days of the UN climate conference – US President Barack Obama is due to arrive tomorrow (18 December) – negotiators have warned that the risk of failure has never been higher.

2009/12/17: COP15: Kyoto proponents win first roundAfter the climate conference agreed on the procedure for further negotiations, the Danish hosts re-launched UN climate talks on Thursday. A British newspaper calls it a “victory for the developing world.” The Copenhagen negotiations broke the deadlock on Thursday and are now moving forward on a two-track basis that maintains the integrity of the Kyoto protocol.

2009/12/17: BBC: Climate summit solves key issuesA deal at the UN climate summit looks more likely following a frantic day of behind the scenes diplomacy. China signalled concessions on monitoring of emission curbs, and the US said it would commit money for developing countries. Leaders are likely to have big choices to make when they meet on Friday. However, a leaked document from the UN climate convention indicates the best deal likely here will not keep the temperature rise below 2C (3.6F). Even if countries implement their biggest pledges, a rise of 3C (5.4F) is indicated, it concluded.

2009/12/17: BBC: Climate deal cannot ignore rainforestsDelegates at the Copenhagen summit cannot afford to leave the world’s rainforests outside of a global climate agreement, says Daniel Murdiyarso [senior scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research]. In this week’s Green Room, he sets out how plans to make the vital ecosystems worth more alive than dead are developing.

2009/12/16: BBC: Climate talks resuming after rowFormal negotiations have reopened at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen after a delay of nine hours. The hold-up was caused by wrangles over the texts to be used as the basis for the talks. Beneath the dispute lies a long-running accusation from developing countries that the Danish hosts are trying to sideline their concerns.

2009/12/15: BNN: New BASIC bloc becomes realityWith environment ministers of Brazil, South Africa, India and China sharing a podium at the climate summit here Tuesday, the new ‘BASIC bloc is now a basic reality’, according to India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. In a move that did not go down well with representatives of smaller developing countries, the BASIC bloc came up with a joint statement on where it wants the Copenhagen summit to go. Though the statement did not say anything that the Group of 77 and China have been saying, its separate release indicated a break with the G77 plus China group, a diplomat from Bangladesh told IANS.

2009/12/15: ABC(Au): Copenhagen negotiator accuses Rudd of lyingThe chief negotiator for China and the small African nations at Copenhagen has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of lying to the Australian people about his position on climate change. Lumumba Di-Aping, who represents China and the G77 group of small countries, was speaking as the talks remained deadlocked…

2009/12/15: EarthTimes: Appeals for consensus at divided climate conferenceCopenhagen – The hosts of a global climate change conference in Copenhagen appealed for consensus Tuesday amid concerns that key United Nations talks may be heading for failure. “The time for unreasonable demands and pressure on your negotiating partners is over. The time for consensus has arrive,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

2009/12/15: BBerg: New York, Toronto, Copenhagen Want ‘Ambitious’Mayors from New York, Toronto, Buenos Aires and Copenhagen led city leaders in signing a resolution calling for “an ambitious and empowering deal” on carbon-dioxide emissions cuts. More than 80 mayors are in the Danish capital this week for a meeting running parallel to the United Nations climate summit. They planned to exchange experiences on the challenges posed by public transportation, waste management, heating, and promoting solar and wind energy.

2009/12/14: NYT: China and U.S. Hit Strident Impasse at Climate TalksChina and the United States were at an impasse on Monday at the United Nations climate change conference here over how compliance with any treaty could be monitored and verified. China, which last month for the first time publicly announced a target for reducing the rate of growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, is refusing to accept any kind of international monitoring of its emissions levels, according to negotiators and observers here. The United States is insisting that without stringent verification of China’s actions, it cannot support any deal. The stalemate came on a day of public and private brinkmanship as the talks moved into their second and final week.

2009/12/14: Times(UK): Copenhagen stalls decision on catastrophic climate change for six yearsThe key decision on preventing catastrophic climate change will be delayed for up to six years if the Copenhagen summit delivers a compromise deal which ignores advice from the UN’s science body. World leaders will not agree on the emissions cuts recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and are likely instead to commit to reviewing them in 2015 or 2016.

2009/12/14: BBC: Copenhagen climate talks resumeTalks at the UN climate summit resumed on Monday afternoon after protests from developing nations forced a suspension. But talks have been limited to informal consultations on procedural issues, notably developing countries’ demands for more time on the Kyoto Protocol. The G77-China bloc, speaking for developing countries, said the Danish hosts had violated democratic process.

2009/12/20: BBC: Asian giants hail Copenhagen dealAsian giants China and Indonesia have hailed the Copenhagen UN climate summit outcome, despite its cool reception from aid agencies and campaigners. Beijing’s foreign minister said it was a new beginning, and Indonesia’s leader said he was pleased with the result. Earlier, US President Barack Obama defended the accord he helped broker with China and other main powers. The non-binding pact, called the Copenhagen Accord, was not adopted by consensus at the summit in Denmark. Instead, after two weeks of frantic negotiations, the 193-nation conference ended on Saturday with delegates merely taking note of the deal.

2009/12/19: CCurrents: The Truths Copenhagen IgnoredSo that’s it. The world’s worst polluters — the people who are drastically altering the climate — gathered here in Copenhagen to announce they were going to carry on cooking, in defiance of all the scientific warnings. They didn’t seal the deal; they sealed the coffin for the world’s low-lying islands, its glaciers, its North Pole, and millions of lives. Those of us who watched this conference with open eyes aren’t surprised. Every day, practical, intelligent solutions that would cut our emissions of warming gases have been offered by scientists, developing countries and protesters — and they have been systematically vetoed by the governments of North America and Europe.

2009/12/19: BBC: UN says Copenhagen deal ‘a start’UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a US-backed climate deal in Copenhagen as an “essential beginning”. But he said the accord, reached with key nations including China and Brazil, must be made legally binding next year. After intense wrangling, delegates passed a motion simply taking note of the deal, without formally adopting it.

2009/12/19: al Jazeera: Climate agreement sparks angerFive countries have reached a non-binding agreement at the Copenhagen climate change summit, but leaders from developing countries have reacted angrily to the deal. Five countries, including the US and China, forged the agreement on Friday following a day of frenzied talks at the 193-nation global warming summit in Denmark.

2009/12/19: EurActiv: EU looks beyond ‘weak’ Copenhagen climate dealAfter two weeks of extenuating talks, world leaders delivered an agreement in Copenhagen that left Europeans disappointed as it failed to commit rich and poor countries to any greenhouse gas emissions reductions. EurActiv reports from the Danish capital. The face-saving deal, dubbed the “Copenhagen AccordPdf external ,” failed to bring a binding agreement on tackling climate change, which Europeans said they expected before the UN conference opened.

2009/12/19: BBC: Key powers in climate compromiseKey states have reached what they call a “meaningful agreement” at the Copenhagen climate summit. Five nations, including China and the US, reached a deal on a number of issues, such as a recognition to limit temperatures rises to less than 2C. US President Barack Obama said it would be a foundation for global action but there was “much further to go”. However, the deal could be rejected as a number of nations expressed “dissatisfaction” with the contents.

2009/12/16: CBC: Police detain protesters at climate summitTurmoil erupted Wednesday both inside and outside of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. Police used batons and tear gas to break up demonstrations meant to disrupt the conference. A police spokesman said about 230 activists were detained after they tried to get through the security perimeter around the Bella Centre, the suburban site where the conference is being held. Protesters had said they wanted to take over the conference and turn it into a “people’s assembly.”

2009/12/15: EurActiv: ‘Civil unrest’ warning as Copenhagen draws to a closeCivil unrest and human rights litigation cases are likely to increase in the coming years unless heads of state and government show political leadership to stop climate change, said Mary Robinson, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Irish president, in an interview with EurActiv.

2009/12/18: ABC(Au): 3C rise ‘would see countries disappear’Greenpeace China says it is shocked by revelations the combined commitments made in the lead-up to Copenhagen will lead to a global temperature rise of three degrees. A leaked report by the United Nations has cast a dark shadow over any final accord made at the climate change summit.

2009/12/17: CanWest: Two-degree temperature rise could flood wide areas of planet, study saysA team of geophysicists is warning that the massive polar ice sheets are even more vulnerable to global warming than previously believed, and could trigger a sea level rise of six to nine metres. The scientists from Princeton and Harvard universities say that just two degrees Celsius of global warming, which is now widely expected to occur in coming decades, could be enough to commit the planet to inundation.

2009/12/17: BBC: Fight to control climate fundThe deadlock over who should cut carbon emissions and by how much may be dominating the headlines here in Copenhagen but behind the scenes an equally big issue is being thrashed out. It’s a fight for control of the massive new fund that will challenge our changing climate. So far there has been no agreement regarding how this money should be managed and where it should be channelled as negotiating bodies from the developed and developing worlds hold fast to their polarised positions.

2009/12/14: VoxEU: Identifying a fair deal on climate change by Nancy Birdsall et al.Over a billion people live without basic electricity. This column calculates the emissions required to make basic energy services available to all and to grant developing countries’ citizens future access to energy services equal to those enjoyed by rich countries’ citizens at comparable stages of development. These calculations imply some very stark, very different implications for burden sharing. Moreover, they mean that meeting aggregate global emissions targets without sacrificing developing countries basic energy needs will require revolutionary improvements in the technology.

2009/12/14: CBC: Make Arctic vessels register in Canada: reportAll foreign ships that enter Canada’s Arctic waters should report to Canadian authorities, according to a new Senate committee report. The report by the Senate’s standing committee on fisheries and oceans, released Monday, concludes that foreign vessels in Canadian Arctic waters — regardless of their size — should be required to register with the Canadian Coast Guard’s Arctic marine traffic system, known as NORDREG.

2009/12/14: PhysOrg: ‘Monster’ iceberg shedding hundreds of offshootsAn island-sized iceberg is breaking up as it drifts closer to Australia, producing hundreds of smaller slabs spread over a massive area of ocean, experts said Monday. The 140-square-kilometre (54-square-mile) block of ice, known as B17B, was seen some 1,700 kilometres (1,054 miles) south-southwest of Australia’s western coast on December 9, prompting a maritime alert for vessels in the area.

2009/12/17: PeakEnergy: Monsanto seed business role revealed[…] Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.’s business practices reveal how the world’s biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found. With Monsanto’s patented genes being inserted into roughly 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S., the company also is using its wide reach to control the ability of new biotech firms to get wide distribution for their products, according to a review of several Monsanto licensing agreements and dozens of interviews with seed industry participants, agriculture and legal experts.

2009/12/15: PhysOrg: Cloning plants from seedsWageningen geneticists (The Netherlands) are developing a method to replicate the parents of a chosen plant. Known as ‘reverse breeding’, this will have a big impact for the breeding industry.

2009/12/14: ABC(Au): Australia accused of cooking carbon booksThe Australian Government has been accused of accounting fraud in the reporting of its carbon emissions. By ignoring a massive rise in polluting gases from the agricultural and forestry industries, Australia has managed to make its overall emissions seem much lower than they actually are. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Australia is allowed to increase carbon emissions by 8 per cent compared to 1990 levels. But figures supplied to the United Nations earlier this year show that between 1990 and 2007, Australia’s real carbon emissions actually rose by 82 per cent.

And the ‘base level year’ game:

2009/12/15: PI: Ottawa plays foul with number gameEric Reguly, The Globe and Mail, December 10, 2009–The Harper Conservatives like to think they have healthy, hands-off approach to business: Let the markets weed out the good from the bad. It’s a nice philosophy. It’s also one that’s conveniently ignored by the Tories when they see fit. Case in point: At the stroke of a pen in the lead-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change, the government’s fiddling with one number, and one number only, instantly created a new list of potential industrial winners and losers. The number in question is 1990 – the base year for reporting carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. The government changed to 2006, to serve as the new base year for any post-Kyoto treaty. When Canada drones on about its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 – an impressive figure, it seems – it’s talking about a 20-per-cent reduction from three years ago, not 19 years ago. Canada’s emissions have been soaring and it’s easier to cut from a high level than a low level.

2009/12/15: Times(UK): Climate change catastrophe took just monthsSix months is all it took to flip Europe’s climate from warm and sunny into the last ice age, researchers have found. They have discovered that the northern hemisphere was plunged into a big freeze 12,800 years ago by a sudden slowdown of the Gulf Stream that allowed ice to spread hundreds of miles southwards from the Arctic. Previous research had suggested the change might have taken place over a longer period — perhaps about 10 years.

2009/12/15: PhysOrg: Hypoxia increases as climate warmsA new study of Pacific Ocean sediments off the coast of Chile has found that offshore waters experienced systematic oxygen depletion during the rapid warming of the Antarctic following the last “glacial maximum” period 20,000 years ago.

2009/12/19: SF Gate: Earth on track for epic die-off, scientists sayIf the course of human history is any model, then the wheels are already turning on Earth’s sixth mass extinction, thanks to habitat destruction, pollution and now global warming, a scientific analysis of millions of years of data revealed Friday. The study of the fossil and archaeological record over the past 30 million years by UC Berkeley and Penn State University researchers shows that between 15 and 42 percent of the mammals in North America disappeared after humans arrived. That means North American mammals are well on the way – perhaps as much as half way – to a level of extinction comparable to other epic die-offs, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.

2009/12/17: Eureka: Study shows loss of 15-42 percent of mammals in North America — Mammals may be nearly half way toward mass extinctionIf the planet is headed for another mass extinction like the previous five, each of which wiped out more than 75 percent of all species on the planet, then North American mammals are one-fifth to one-half the way there, according to a University of California, Berkeley, and Pennsylvania State University analysis. Many scientists warn that the perfect storm of global warming and environmental degradation — both the result of human activity is leading to a sixth mass extinction equal to the “Big Five” that have occurred over the past 450 million years, the last of which killed off the dinosaurs 68 million years ago.

2009/12/15: PlanetArk: Natural Disasters At Decade Low In 2009-UN ReportThe world this year suffered the fewest number of natural disasters in a decade, but floods, droughts and other extreme weather continued to account for most of the deaths and economic losses, according to a United Nations report released on Monday. There were 245 natural disasters recorded this year, down from the decade high of 434 in 2005, said the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The figures were released mid-way through an international climate conference in which 192 nations hope to nail down new firm targets for reducing carbon pollution, which is blamed for a long-term trend in more extreme weather. Of the 245 disasters, 224 were weather-related and accounted for 7,0000 deaths out of the 8,900, according to the preliminary figures. The weather-related deaths, which exclude geological events such as earthquakes and volcanoes, caused $15 billion in damages, out of a total of $19 billion, the report said.

2009/12/14: PlanetArk: Amazon Projects Undercut Brazil’s New Green Path[…]Brazil reversed years of opposition to greenhouse gas targets this year, saying it intended to reduce Amazon deforestation by 80 percent and curb projected 2020 greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent. “They talk about reducing deforestation and boosting controls but they invest in these mega-projects,” said Israel Vale, director at the Kaninde environmental advocacy group in Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia.“The rhetoric doesn’t fully match reality,” he said.President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a pragmatic former factory worker, has acknowledged the importance of tackling climate change and the heavy contribution that destruction of the forest makes to carbon emissions. But he has consistently backed infrastructure projects in the Amazon and hits out at foreigners he says want to preserve the forest like a park, ignoring the needs of its inhabitants.

2009/12/18: UN: Record number of people make perilous journey to Yemen, UN reportsFleeing conflict, poverty and drought, more than 74,000 people — a record number — from the Horn of Africa risked their lives this year to make the treacherous journey across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to begin their lives anew in Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said today. This figure is up a staggering 50 per cent from the 50,000 arrivals last year, Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.

2009/12/20: BBC: India’s wettest place ‘lacks water’Once the world’s wettest places, Cherrapunji is getting up to 20% less rain every year – and is suffering water shortages. Residents say their heavenly abode in the clouds is hotter and drier than ever before – and they blame it on global warming. Cherrapunji – or Sohra in the local Khasi language – is located in the West Khasi Hills of India’s north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

2009/12/15: SF Gate: Pumping depletes Central Valley water, data showDrought, curtailed water exports from the delta and overzealous well pumping during the past six years have depleted Central Valley aquifers by enough to fill Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation, according to new satellite data from NASA. The findings echo a similar report by the U.S. Geological Survey this year and underscore the precarious nature of California’s water supply and the long-term risks to the agriculture industry, which produces 8 percent of the country’s food.

2009/12/15: BBC: [GRACE] Satellites weigh California waterNASA satellites have weighed the water lost by the US State of California’s heartland since 2003. The Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins which support the highly productive Central Valley have shed over 30 cubic km of water in that time.

2009/12/15: CBC: Airlines to lose $5.6B US in 2010: IATA — Small recovery in air traffic predictedThe global airline industry will lose $5.6 billion US in 2010, an industry group predicted Tuesday. The International Air Transport Association described low revenues and rising costs as a “continuing disaster” for world airlines, despite some recovery in passenger and cargo traffic. It estimates its 240 member airlines have already lost $49 billion since 2000 and repeated its prediction that industry losses this year will add up to $11 billion.

2009/12/15: PhysOrg: Home heating efficiencies offer ‘hat trick’ of savings: studyImproving the energy efficiency of Maryland homes heated by natural gas would generate a “hat trick” of economic and environmental benefits over the next 10 years, including more than 80,000 new jobs, savings of hundreds of dollars in average heating bills and a nine percent reduction in residential carbon emissions, concludes a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER).

2009/12/18: EurActiv: Brazil warns EU on biofuel sustainabilityEU rules for calculating indirect land-use changes caused by biofuel production would not be legitimate without an internationally-accepted methodology, a group of developing countries has told the European Commission. The warning was sent to Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on 15 December, questioning the EU executive’s quest for a methodology to account for greenhouse gas emissions that result from converting forests or farmland to energy crops. The signatories range from Brazil and Argentina to Indonesia and Mozambique, which are all biofuel-producing nations. They have been keeping a close eye on EU developments as any European regulation could impact on their export products.

2009/12/19: EarthTimes: Copenhagen unveils the new world order – the G2Copenhagen – One hundred and twenty people are invited to a meeting. Thirty of them sit down and talk. Just two of them take the key decision. Welcome to the new world order, where the United States and China conduct the choir, a clutch of old and rising powers sing the key solos, and the rest of the world joins in the chorus.

2009/12/17: DerSpiegel: Stalling in Copenhagen — Chimerica Against the WorldChina and the United States are playing a decisive role in Copenhagen. Both major powers are accusing each other of doing too little to stop the climate disaster. Europeans and developing nations are demanding the two agree to greater reductions in CO2 emissions. Will ‘Chimerica’ derail a real deal in Copenhagen?

2009/12/19: Guardian(UK): China ended up as a useful scapegoatThis was not the result China wanted. China’s intention was to be seen as a good guy in this historical climate conference. That is, a good guy, but not yet the leader. The foundations had all been there — the domestic revolution in clean energy; intensive negotiations with all the major players, especially the US, over the past year; the big announcement of its targets on emission growth 10 days ahead of Copenhagen; the setting-up of the first-ever China Communication and News Centre. However, two things caught China by surprise.

2009/12/15: WpgFP: Manitoba, Australian state to co-operate on climate changeManitoba and the state of South Australia have reached agreement to co-operate on climate-change adaption and water management. The arrangement was announced this morning from the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen. Premier Greg Selinger is leading a Manitoba delegation to the conference.

2009/12/15: Reuters: Rich nations must assume environmental duties: popeIndustrialized nations must recognize their responsibility for the environmental crisis, shed their consumerism and embrace more sober lifestyles, Pope Benedict said on Tuesday. The pope’s call for more environmental commitments came in his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s annual World Day of Peace, to be marked on Jan 1 and whose theme is “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.” The message is traditionally sent to heads of state, government and international organizations and its importance this year is more significant because its release coincided with the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

2009/12/18: TDC: One planet, different universesAll eyes in Copenhagen were on China and President Barack Obama Friday night, but no event captured the discord, mistrust and distance separating all sides at these climate talks than a pair of press conferences held simultaneously at the Bella Center earlier in the afternoon. In the main room, refusing to cede the stage to other dignitaries, Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Juan Evo Morales railed against the developed world’s inability to accept responsibility for previous emissions obligations and the role it has played in warming the atmosphere… Across the hall, five Republican members of the U.S. House denounced the notion that humans could change the climate and expressed relief at the prospect of failure here.

2009/12/16: ABC(Au): Farmer starves in protest against land use rulesA New South Wales farmer from the Monaro region near Canberra is entering day 25 of a hunger strike in protest against state laws which lock up farming land for carbon capture and storage. Peter Spencer is camped in a wind tower on his Shannons Flat property near Cooma, an hour south from Canberra, in a protest against laws which stop him clearing native vegetation on his farm.

2009/12/14: ABC(Au): $7m to target geothermal effortsA company exploring for geothermal resources in south-west Victoria has welcomed a $7 million funding commitment from the Federal Government. Hot Rock wants to establish a geothermal power plant at Koroit, near Warrnambool.

2009/12/14: ABC(Au): Australia accused of cooking carbon booksThe Australian Government has been accused of accounting fraud in the reporting of its carbon emissions. By ignoring a massive rise in polluting gases from the agricultural and forestry industries, Australia has managed to make its overall emissions seem much lower than they actually are. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Australia is allowed to increase carbon emissions by 8 per cent compared to 1990 levels. But figures supplied to the United Nations earlier this year show that between 1990 and 2007, Australia’s real carbon emissions actually rose by 82 per cent.

2009/12/19: LFPress: PM messed up on climate, detaineesNot that long ago a piano- playing Stephen Harper bestrode his world like a colossus. Now here he is, rocked yet again by a pair of issues that do not want to stay dead, no matter how often or how hard he tries to kill them.

2009/12/19: G&M: Canada’s strategy: Promise now, implement laterDelays in climate-change regulations, intended to match U.S. policy, are expected to add to cost and logistical effort Canadians will still have a lengthy wait before Ottawa rolls out its climate change plan, despite a tentative political accord at the Copenhagen summit. The delays will make it more difficult, and potentially more costly, for Canada to meet its target to reduce emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020.

2009/12/15: CBC: Prentice won’t rule out oilsands emission breaksThe Conservative government has not ruled out giving special breaks to oilsands companies when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged Tuesday. Prentice’s comments came in response to draft documents obtained by CBC News that suggest the Tories want to harmonize their approach to cutting greenhouse gases with that of the United States and have considered allowing weaker targets for the oil and gas sector.

2009/12/15: PI: Ottawa plays foul with number game [base level year game]Eric Reguly, The Globe and Mail, December 10, 2009–The Harper Conservatives like to think they have healthy, hands-off approach to business: Let the markets weed out the good from the bad. It’s a nice philosophy. It’s also one that’s conveniently ignored by the Tories when they see fit. Case in point: At the stroke of a pen in the lead-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change, the government’s fiddling with one number, and one number only, instantly created a new list of potential industrial winners and losers. The number in question is 1990 – the base year for reporting carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. The government changed to 2006, to serve as the new base year for any post-Kyoto treaty. When Canada drones on about its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 – an impressive figure, it seems – it’s talking about a 20-per-cent reduction from three years ago, not 19 years ago. Canada’s emissions have been soaring and it’s easier to cut from a high level than a low level.

2009/12/15: CBC: Climate-change skeptics gain from Ottawa fundingThe federal government has been funding an asbestos lobby group that promotes the work of prominent climate-change skeptics. The revelation comes as Canada’s delegation struggles to avoid being cast as the villain at the Copenhagen climate conference, and environmentalists are urging the government to stop financing the group.

The Yes Men ran a number on the Harpercons:

2009/12/14: G&M: Environment Canada hit by ‘damn clever’ climate stunt Canada is red-faced at the Copenhagen climate-change conference as a result of a spoof news release purporting to be from Environment Canada announcing Canada was bringing in bold new emissions reduction targets. The authentic-looking release, which was announced on a fake Jim Prentice Twitter account, caught many observers off guard and a fake story about it landed on a fake Wall Street Journal website – all an elaborate ruse to embarrass Canada, which is being considered the “dirty-old man” of the conference for its intransigence on negotiating better targets.

2009/12/14: CBC:KO’M: Copenhagen-anigans: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery …… parody is quite the opposite, as our embattled environment minister discovered this morning when he discovered that an alternate twitterverse version of himself had announced, on Canada’s behalf, an “ambitious plan for a new climate change framework that answers vital concerns voiced by developing nations” that would “strict new emissions-reductions guidelines for Canada and fast-tracks financing for vulnerable countries beginning in 2010.”

Note the effort to Manufacture the illusion of Consent:

2009/12/14: TStar:COP15: U.S. snubs CanadaCanadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice just finished his press conference and he dismissed the hoax press releases, saying “I am here to negotiate.” The Minister’s press people distributed a release for a photo-op of U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Prentice to occur shortly after the press conference, outside of the offices of the U.S. delegation. I showed up there and noticed Steve Kelly, Prentice’s chief of staff, having a raised voice exchange with a member from the U.S. delegation. The problem was the U.S. delegation hadn’t given the green light for a photo-op, just for closed bilateral meeting between the two. Over the course of 10 minutes, Kelly repeatedly asked the U.S. delegation official to reconsider, to which the U.S. delegation official replied, negative. When Kelly asked for this to be taken up the chain of command, the U.S. delegation official replied “it came from pretty high up. It’s not going to happen.” The U.S. official said he didn’t understand why the photograph was so important, to which Kelly replied “we were carpetbagged this morning by (environmental non-governmental organizations) with a false press release, I gotta change the story.”

About that “Made in Canada” policy:

2009/12/16: WpgFP: Provinces, U.S. call nation’s shots“WHO speaks for Canada?” Apply former prime minister Pierre Elliott Tru­deau’s famous question to today’s con­joined issues of climate change and energy policy and the answer wouldn’t be the federal government. It would be a bizarre com­bination of the U.S. and the provinces. Ottawa has ceded its policy-making responsibility to set overall national targets for greenhouse gas reductions to U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration. Following America’s lead, Canada has pledged to reduce emissions by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020, considerably less than Europe’s pledge of 20 per cent from 1990 levels.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

2009/12/19: G&M: Battle for the oil sandsAcross Alberta, companies have spent years developing new technologies that promise cheaper, greener production. In the next few months, some will move from the lab to the field in critical tests that could radically reshape the industry.

2009/12/19: CanWest: Chinese oilsands takeover bid under review — Investment law says big deals must represent ‘net benefit’ for CanadaThe Harper government is quietly reviewing the $1.9-billion investment by a state-owned Chinese oil company in two oilsands projects, more than a month after the deal was originally supposed to close. In an exclusive interview on Friday, Industry Minister Tony Clement confirmed that the government is reviewing PetroChina’s proposal to buy a 60-per-cent stake in two projects in northern Alberta planned by Athabasca Oil Sands. Following its announcement Aug. 31, the deal was hailed as a major endorsement by foreign investors in the oilsands, as well as a sign that China could be prepared to ramp up its investment in such projects, after lukewarm interest in recent years. At the time, the acquisition was expected to be completed Oct. 31, and company officials said they did not anticipate much objection from the federal government.

2009/12/16: CanWest: Alberta preparing itself for financial ramification of cap-and-trade systemOn the heels of federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice musing about climate plan breaks for Canada’s expanding oil and gas sector, Alberta says it is lobbying for firm limits on how much money can flow out of the province under any eventual North American-wide cap-and-trade system. “As long as there’s limits on the amount of funds that would flow into an open market, I think we could live with that,” Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said. “There’s been talk all along to the degree of which we would participate in a North American or national market.”

2009/12/15: CBC: Prentice won’t rule out oilsands emission breaksThe Conservative government has not ruled out giving special breaks to oilsands companies when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged Tuesday. Prentice’s comments came in response to draft documents obtained by CBC News that suggest the Tories want to harmonize their approach to cutting greenhouse gases with that of the United States and have considered allowing weaker targets for the oil and gas sector.

2009/12/14: CBC: No moratorium on Alberta nuclear plants, minister saysEnergy Minister Mel Knight said Monday there will be no moratorium on nuclear energy plants in Alberta. Energy Minister Mel Knight said Monday there will be no moratorium on nuclear energy plants in Alberta. (CBC)Alberta will not stand in the way of the construction of nuclear power plants, Energy Minister Mel Knight said Monday, following the release of a telephone survey that suggests 45 per cent of Albertans want nuclear plants approved on a case-by-case basis.

2009/12/15: BBC: Swiss geologist in quakes trialThe head of a geothermal energy company has gone on trial in Switzerland accused of damaging property by triggering earthquakes. Markus Haering’s company had been working with the authorities in Basel to try to convert the heat in deep-seated rocks into electricity. But the project was suspended in 2006 when drilling triggered the quakes. They caused no injuries but led to $9m (£5.54m) of damage. Mr Haering denies deliberately damaging property. The project was shut down permanently last week after a government study found that similar quakes caused by the project would lead to millions of dollars worth of damage each year.

2009/12/14: ABC(Au): $7m to target geothermal effortsA company exploring for geothermal resources in south-west Victoria has welcomed a $7 million funding commitment from the Federal Government. Hot Rock wants to establish a geothermal power plant at Koroit, near Warrnambool.

2009/12/17: DallasNews: Exxon can void deal to buy XTO Energy if [fracking] drilling method is restrictedNatural-gas producers have been fighting an effort to increase regulation of the drilling technique that is widely used in North Texas’ Barnett Shale. Now they have a new ally in the fight: Exxon Mobil Corp. Exxon says it could void its $41 billion deal to buy Fort Worth-based XTO Energy if Congress passes a law that would make hydraulic fracturing illegal or “commercially impracticable.” The exit clause is included in a merger document Exxon filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

2009/12/15: BBerg: Big Oil Seen in ‘Race to the Altar’ After Exxon DealExxon Mobil Corp.’s $30 billion purchase of XTO Energy Inc., the largest U.S. petroleum takeover since 2006, may signal a wave of acquisitions as major producers seek to tap growing gas and oil output from shale formations. Irving, Texas-based Exxon announced its deal yesterday, saying it plans to make XTO, the largest natural-gas producer in the U.S., the centerpiece of its global expansion in shale developments. XTO is among companies that drove a surge in U.S. fuel output by exploiting so-called shale plays, where rock formations are fractured with water and sand to make gas flow.

2009/12/16: CBC: Giant wind turbines pose no health risk: study — Critics insist turbines can have ‘devastating impacts’Noise and vibration from giant wind turbines may be annoying but pose no risk to human health, an industry-funded study has found. The study was financed by the Canadian and American wind energy associations, which asked an international panel of medical, scientific, acoustic and audiological experts to review all published research on the potential health impacts of wind turbines. Critics — who maintain the electricity-generating turbines disrupt the sleep and even the heart rhythms of those who live near them — aren’t convinced. They dismiss the study as worthless, industry-financed spin.

2009/12/15: CCP: San Juan Coal Company put on notice by Sierra ClubFarmington, NM: The Sierra Club today put the San Juan Coal Company on notice for failing to properly dispose of millions of tons of toxic coal ash and scrubber sludge each year. The San Juan Coal Company has dumped more than 40 million tons of coal combustion waste containing pollutants like arsenic, lead and mercury into massive unlined pits at the San Juan Mine, about 10 miles west of Farmington. As a result of the lack of safety precautions, toxins from the coal ash have leaked into nearby waterways and wells, endangering local residents, livestock, and wildlife.

2009/12/18: EurActiv: Brazil warns EU on biofuel sustainabilityEU rules for calculating indirect land-use changes caused by biofuel production would not be legitimate without an internationally-accepted methodology, a group of developing countries has told the European Commission. The warning was sent to Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on 15 December, questioning the EU executive’s quest for a methodology to account for greenhouse gas emissions that result from converting forests or farmland to energy crops. The signatories range from Brazil and Argentina to Indonesia and Mozambique, which are all biofuel-producing nations. They have been keeping a close eye on EU developments as any European regulation could impact on their export products.

Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:

2009/12/18: BBC: Scrappage lifts UK car productionUK car production rose by 15.7% in November compared with a year earlier, the first increase in more than a year, industry figures have shown. There were 112,948 cars made last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. It put the rise down to the continuing impact of the car scrappage scheme and increased stability in major European car markets.

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

“Today for the first time in history, over a billion people on earth will go to bed hungry and one of the key factors is an increasingly severe and erratic climate.” -Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director

Comments

Well in a recent article in the Economist magazine (about peak oil) there was this:

“The IEA reckons that co-ordinated action to restrict the increase in global temperatures to 2ºC will restrict global demand for oil to 89m b/d in 2030, compared with 105m b/d if no action is taken.”

So there is a difference of 16million b/d (that is Barrels Per Day) so given the cost of a barrel is currently around $70, so you can see that it represents $1120 million dollars per day in difference. So event mitigating the supply a bit – by obfuscating the science and promoting uncertainty is worth $millions per day.